Does Ubuntu still focus on usability?

[chmac]

I'm getting caught up in a bug. I think that a simple change would make lyx easier for users on Ubuntu. I wanted to quote ubuntu's philosophy in my response, but I can't find anything about usability anywhere on ubuntu.com. At least, not any more. I did find quotes on Wikipedia citing that ubuntu focuses on usability, but they reference pages on ubuntu.com retrieved in 2006.

Has ubuntu made a conscious shift away from the focus on usability? Has the focus on usability been assimilated to such a point that it's now taken for granted, and so not stated explicitly?

I'd be grateful for any links or specific references that shed some light on this. I'm somewhat interested in personal opinions, but urls are really what I'm after.

[cariboo]

As the bug you linked to says, this was a Debian decision, Ubuntu takes a snapshot of the current Debian unstable, at the start of development cycle, and uses that a a basis. I fail to see what this has to do with usability, it doesn't make the program any harder or easier to use. The approx 700Mb of documentation has no effect on the way the system runs, so where is the usability problem.

There many people that object to having data/programs on their hard drive that they don't use, but that doesn't have anything to do with usability.

[chmac]

You're right, installing or not install the documentation packages doesn't make the software any easier to use. I think it makes the software easier to install, by dramatically reducing the bandwidth requirements.

I see the topic of usability, in the broad sense of software for human beings, as the whole package, from ease of install through ease of use and even ease of removal.

Do you know if Ubuntu have changed that focus? I don't see anything about software for human beings or usability as a priority on ubuntu.com any more.

[Merk42]

I think cariboo907's point is that while downloading the documentation, which is larger than the program MAY be an issue, it's not one of usability.

Do you know if Ubuntu have changed that focus? I don't see anything about software for human beings or usability as a priority on ubuntu.com any more.

Really?

[cooltd825]

I think that people, Canonical included, are confusing the terms of "usability" and "commercial widespread popularity". The team making decisions behind Ubuntu is marketing this OS toward mainstream usage almost as aggressively as Steve Jobs pushes the latest OS X cat.

I see where you're coming from though. I've been affected by a bug since 2006 that involves a very annoying static clicking noise in the left speaker. It was a problem contained within Ubuntu almost uniquely, which drove me away to Fedora for awhile. Eventually I bought a new computer in which this bug didn't exist, but not due to software updates, but instead a newer version of the Intel chip itself. The problem is that you can still follow this bug on Launchpad, as it has yet to be resolved. While there is a fancy new theme that was developed for Gnome and dumbed down versions of programs we already have taking default priority, there are bugs like this affecting a good percentage of the users.

That being said, in their want to market this as a mainstream OS, they have added some very nice features that make it much more "usable" from a "non-Linux perspective". The best example I can think of is native iPod/iPhone support, something even Windows doesn't have.

[cariboo]

I think that people, Canonical included, are confusing the terms of "usability" and "commercial widespread popularity". The team making decisions behind Ubuntu is marketing this OS toward mainstream usage almost as aggressively as Steve Jobs pushes the latest OS X cat.

I see where you're coming from though. I've been affected by a bug since 2006 that involves a very annoying static clicking noise in the left speaker. It was a problem contained within Ubuntu almost uniquely, which drove me away to Fedora for awhile. Eventually I bought a new computer in which this bug didn't exist, but not due to software updates, but instead a newer version of the Intel chip itself. The problem is that you can still follow this bug on Launchpad, as it has yet to be resolved. While there is a fancy new theme that was developed for Gnome and dumbed down versions of programs we already have taking default priority, there are bugs like this affecting a good percentage of the users.

That being said, in their want to market this as a mainstream OS, they have added some very nice features that make it much more "usable" from a "non-Linux perspective". The best example I can think of is native iPod/iPhone support, something even Windows doesn't have.

Why is it that people assume that the team that does the theming is the same as the kernel team?

I thought that idea had been laid to rest a couple of releases ago.

There is also something in the works which it will make it easier for us normal users to interact with kernel devs.

[Shining Arcanine]

I'm getting caught up in a bug. I think that a simple change would make lyx easier for users on Ubuntu. I wanted to quote ubuntu's philosophy in my response, but I can't find anything about usability anywhere on ubuntu.com. At least, not any more. I did find quotes on Wikipedia citing that ubuntu focuses on usability, but they reference pages on ubuntu.com retrieved in 2006.

Has ubuntu made a conscious shift away from the focus on usability? Has the focus on usability been assimilated to such a point that it's now taken for granted, and so not stated explicitly?

I'd be grateful for any links or specific references that shed some light on this. I'm somewhat interested in personal opinions, but urls are really what I'm after.

If you do not like this, you could try switching to another distribution that lets you do this sort of thing.

[chmac]

I think cariboo907's point is that while downloading the documentation, which is larger than the program MAY be an issue, it's not one of usability.

Ok, fair enough. I might be using the word usability in a different way than is generally understood.

Really?

Thanks for that link, I had missed the project top level page when I was looking at ubuntu.com. I see two mentions of "easy to use" and one of "easy to install". I thought "ease of use" used to be more central to Ubuntu's philosophy. Do you think Ubuntu is as focused on "ease of use" today as in 2006?

If you do not like this, you could try switching to another distribution that lets you do this sort of thing.

I don't understand what you mean. I'm asking if Ubuntu has changed its focus on ease of use and accessibility to the "average human". I'm not sure what you think I don't like, or why I would want to switch to another distribution.